Watching Gao Shun's soldiers and horses retreat along the post road towards the south, Zhang Fei led his soldiers and horses to leave the camp and follow behind unhurriedly. If the other party is fast, they are also fast; The other side is slow, and they are equally slow. Even at noon, Gao Shun's camp stopped, drinking water and eating dry food by a stream, and Zhang Fei's soldiers and horses did the same, staying in the upper reaches of the stream to drink water and eat dry food.

Gao Shun was furious at Zhang Fei's move, and every time he turned around to attack, Zhang Fei's forces immediately retreated, not having any contact with the trapped camp. But as long as the trapped camp continued to retreat south, they caught up. In desperation, Gao Shun could only give the order to the trapped camp to continue the march, as long as Zhang Fei's soldiers and horses did not approach, he could completely ignore it.

In the evening, Zhang Fei's soldiers and horses suddenly stopped advancing. Seeing that the distance between the two armies was getting farther and farther away, Gao Shun's heart became unsteady, and he secretly wondered what was going on, why didn't the Jizhou army keep up? Could it be that they have some conspiracy that cannot be realized?

In fact, Gao Shun's worries were unnecessary, and the reason why Zhang Fei's soldiers and horses stopped advancing was because he received an order from Han Zhan to stop pursuing Gao Shun and return to Licheng as soon as possible.

Gao Shun didn't know the real reason for Zhang Fei's retreat, so he hurriedly sent two cronies to follow him to find out if the Jizhou army was engaged in some conspiracy? And he led the soldiers and horses to stay on the post road and wait.

After two incense sticks, the two cronies sent ran back breathlessly, and reported to Gao Shun a little breathlessly, "General Qiyu, the small one has seen clearly, the Jizhou army is heading along the post road in the direction of Licheng." ”

"Are you sure it's back to Lee, and not an ambush somewhere?"

The cronies shook their heads and continued, "The little one is also worried that the Jizhou army is retreating openly, but secretly hiding somewhere, so that after dark, they can come to attack us secretly. Therefore, the little one walked forward two or three miles, and when he saw another army of soldiers and horses coming to meet him, he was afraid that they would find out, so he turned back and reported to the general. ”

Knowing that the Jizhou army really went back to Licheng, Gao Shun's heart felt a little more steady. I only heard my cronies ask again, "General, what should we do next?" ”

"Now that the Jizhou army has returned to Licheng, we will continue to hurry." In order to catch up with Lu Bu and them, Gao Shun decided to take a risk, so he ordered, "Disband the combat formation, change to a marching formation, and be sure to catch up with Wenhou and them as soon as possible." ”

The army led by Han Zhan arrived in Licheng at noon. He saw that only Guan Yu and Tai Shici came to greet him, and specially asked Guan Yu, "Brother Yun, I don't know where Brother Yide is?" ”

Hearing Han Zhan's inquiry, Guan Yu hurriedly replied respectfully, "Qi Qi Anyang Marquis, today Lu Bu retreats his troops, and the last general will let the third brother lead the troops to follow behind, forcing them to leave this place as soon as possible." ”

After Han Zhan waited for Guan Yu to finish speaking, he asked him about yesterday's battle, pondered for a moment, turned his head and asked Guo Jia next to him, "Fengxiao, what do you think?" ”

When Guo Jia heard Han Zhan ask himself, he just smiled faintly, and instead of answering Han Zhan's question, he asked rhetorically, "Isn't the development of everything in line with the lord's idea?" ”

Seeing that Guo Jia had exposed himself in public, Han Zhan laughed dryly, and then ordered Guan Yu, "Yun Chang, immediately send someone to call Yide back." Judging from all indications, Lu Bu does not want to be the enemy of our army, and there is no need to force him too tightly, lest he jump over the wall in a hurry and be forced to fight to the death with our army. ”

"Subordinates obey!" Guan Yu agreed, and then called a cronie and asked him to go after Zhang Fei, so that he didn't have to continue to chase Gao Shun and the others, and quickly withdrew his troops back.

Tai Shici, who was standing respectfully on the side, waited for Guan Yu's envoy to leave, and then walked in front of Han Zhan, and said ashamedly, "Lord, my subordinates are incompetent, and I still need you to come to the rescue from afar." ”

Han Zhan dismounted and supported Tai Shici, and said to him with a smile, "What did Ziyi say, you went to recruit new soldiers for Ben Hou and were pursued by the enemy, how could Ben Hou ignore you." ”

After Tai Shici sighed, he asked Han Zhan for instructions, "My lord, my subordinates see that there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses you brought, I don't know if they are stationed outside the city, or settle in the city?" ”

Han Zhan looked up at the city wall not far away for a moment, and then said, "The city can't accommodate so many soldiers and horses, so let's camp outside the city." General Zilong! ”

When Zhao Yun heard Han Zhan calling him, he hurriedly urged him forward, and asked respectfully, "What does the lord command?" ”

"The army was encamped outside the city." Han Zhan instructed Zhao Yun to say, "Ben Hou and the military advisor will first follow General Ziyi into the city, and after setting up the camp, you will also come to the city." ”

Zhao Yun hurriedly replied: "Subordinates obey orders!" ”

Zhao Yun stayed outside the city to command the soldiers and horses to set up camp, while Han Zhan followed Tai Shici into the city. Halfway through, Tai Shici asked Han Zhan curiously, "Lord, we obviously have the strength to destroy Lu Bu, why do we want to let him go?" ”

When Han Zhan heard Tai Shici's question, he couldn't help but turn his head and glance at Guan Yu who was following behind, and then asked with some surprise, "Why, Yun Chang hasn't analyzed this matter for you?" ”

"Analyzed." Tai Shi Ci nodded and said, "But my subordinates still want to hear what the lord has to say." ”

Han Zhan looked left and right, and saw that there were still many people on both sides of the street, looking at his group tremblingly. He coughed lightly and said, "Ziyi, this is not the place to speak, and when you get to the place, Ben Hou will naturally tell you the reason." ”

When he came to the county office, Han Zhan sat down in the middle of the seat, and saw that there were no outsiders present, before he spoke, "Ziyi, don't you want to know, why did Ben Hou let Lu Bu go?" ”

Tai Shici hurriedly got up and saluted Han Zhan, "My subordinates would like to hear about it!" ”

"There are two reasons for this." Han Zhan stretched out two fingers and said, "First, Benhou's current priority is to unify Hebei, Qing, You, and the four states as soon as possible, and there is no need to build more strong enemies before achieving this goal; Second, since Lu Bu is called a slave with three surnames, it shows that he is not a person who is willing to live under others for a long time. Don't look at him at this time under Yuan Shu's hands, but sooner or later there will be dissent, and with his containment, Yuan Shu will not be able to be distracted to come to deal with us, so that we can unify the north with peace of mind. ”

After listening to Han Zhan's explanation, Tai Shici finally suddenly realized, and he hurriedly flattered and said, "The lord is really far-sighted, his subordinates admire, admire tightly!" ”

Although he knew that Tai Shici was patting his ass, he was still quite comfortable listening to this flattery. Han Zhan waved his hand at Tai Shi Ci and said to him, "Ziyi, we have been sitting for so long, why haven't the wine and food come up yet?" ”

(Battlefield Literature)